Rolling Stone Celebrates 50 Years With Freedom From Debt And Kent State University Partnership

Rolling Stone owner Wenner Media LLC will no longer have debt for the first time in 10 years as a direct result of its sale of Us Weekly magazine, according to a Bloomberg News report. The news is a welcome one for the media company and it comes just as one of its magazines, Rolling Stone, celebrates its 50th year in circulation.

The good news also comes just as Gus Wenner is slowly taking the reins by handling the daily operations of the media company away from his father Jann, who came up with the idea of publishing Rolling Stone. Gus refused to directly confirm whether he had officially been named the head of the media company.

Wenner Media plans to use a huge chunk of the $100 million it received from the sale of Us Weekly to pay at least $49 million of its corporate debt. Gus, at 26 years old, has been criticized for his lack of experience in running a media company. His strategy will also be different from Jann's, who was hesitant to join the digital revolution.

As Rolling Stone turns 50, Gus is planning to have the magazine focus on video projects. Wenner Media has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to sales and other operational developments. For Rolling Stone in particular, newsstands sales declined and the magazine was ordered to pay $1 million in damages in the defamation case related to one if its articles.

Kent State University students have decided to celebrate Rolling Stone's celebration of its 50 years in circulation with a new course, "Music, Movements and Media: Rolling Stone @ 50," Cleveland reported. The university's School of Journalism and Mass Communication will be offering the course, which will run for five weeks.

The course will mainly tackle how Rolling Stone affected American culture and how it tries to adapt in a changing media environment. Rolling Stone's origins will also be discussed, and students will get one credit when they take the course.

Jobs & Hire previously reported that Pearl Jam and Tupac were some of the 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.